Necessary Roughness

Update, May 6: The original intent of this article was to show how I turned an uncomfortable situation into a salutary habit. In the first edition of this post, explicit references made some readers uncomfortable and were not necessary to the point, so those references have been removed.

There is a Lutheran blog called Priestmanship that details different ways a pastor may exercise his proper duty despite the improper wishes of his congregation. What I ran into today may fall under a similar situation, ‘Dad’-manship.

My daughter was impressed by the fact that her babysitters read their “Bible” and make notes in it before they go to bed. The five-year-old asks for a copy to take home, and they of course have plenty. The intent was all well and good, but their Bible turned out to be one of the New World Translation.

I came home today to find this out, and I wasn’t amused. I’m thankful she can’t read, but she really likes this “gift” and wants to read stories out of it at night and church. Bless her heart; I doubt I had that kind of desire when I was five.

I’d wager that if I started comparing NWT with ESV/NIV/NKJV, I could find stories that don’t get altered and then read those stories. But that would give legitimacy to this book, and my older daughter will start reading soon.

This evening, instead of taking the book away, I let her take it to bed. I brought the other daughter to their bed as well. I brought the LSB and the NIV I had received from my old church in Kansas City. First we sang Compline, which both daughters enjoyed (and even participated some). My older daughter then wanted me to read a story about Jesus. I picked out John 2:1-12, reading the Wedding of Cana out of the NIV, emphasizing the deity of the Christ. Of course, she knew that, singing the Gloria Patri out of Matins when I mentioned it.

We have used this incident as an opportunity to hear more of the true Word, and maybe establish a new habit. If my daughters want to keep this up, great. That’s their gift to me. I’ll do it so long as I’m here.